Human Rights organisation Amnesty International receives the European Civil Rights Prize of Sinti and Roma 2016

The Sinti and Roma minority continues to suffer from severe stigmatisation and marginalisation in Europe. The human rights organisation Amnesty International has been campaigning against this for years by mobilising people to oppose the widespread discrimination of the minority, in particular in the fields of education and housing.

Their campaign Human Rights HereÂ¬ â Roma Rights Now appealed directly to the European Union. The goal of the campaign was to remind the EU institutions and member states to respect existing antidiscrimination legislation, such as the Race Equality Directive and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and to not disregard the discrimination of Roma.

Although the EU member states are obligated to implement the prohibition of discrimination, large parts of Europe continue to disregard it. In 2014, Amnesty International confronted the EU with their continued failure to address discrimination and violence against Roma by publishing the report We ask for justice â Europeâs failure to protect Roma from racist violence.

In 2016 the jury has decided to acknowledge this commitment and offer an incentive to continue to fight for the rights of the Roma by awarding the European Civil Rights Prize of Sinti and Roma to Amnesty International.